


To Dine With Demons

by Kiiratam



Series: Blake's Fanfiction [6]
Category: RWBY
Genre: Cannibalism, Canon Compliant, F/F, Fanfiction, Light Angst, Light Smut, Meta
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-29
Updated: 2020-08-29
Packaged: 2021-03-06 14:21:59
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,522
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26170351
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kiiratam/pseuds/Kiiratam
Summary: An unauthorized work in the Ninjas of Love Universe (Please don't sue me! I love your books!)Miko of the Chameleon Clan and her companions stop at an unusual inn.Part 4 of ?.By BlackCat13.(This one kind of hurt. Fair warning. Real life is kind of eating me, too, so no idea when the next part will be out. Thanks for reading!)((Takes place between Chapters 5 and 8. (My BMBLB fic index))
Relationships: Blake Belladonna/Yang Xiao Long
Series: Blake's Fanfiction [6]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1526540
Comments: 10
Kudos: 17





	To Dine With Demons

"So everyone inside these 'inns' is prey? Because they are places of food?"

  
Miko sighed. "Peryt, no." It was like explaining to a child. A child that could tear down trees with her bare hands.

  
Peryt flung her arms wide. "But it is a place of food! And they are inside!"

  
Casting a long-suffering look at the Devil Dragon in Iron, Miko tried to figure out where she had gone wrong. Whatever else Peryt was, she certainly wasn't civilized. Her inability to keep herself clothed was just another indication of that.

  
The Devil Dragon, by contrast, knew perfectly well what clothes and modesty were. That didn't stop her from keeping her robe only loosely belted, and not wearing undergarments, and making sure that Miko was aware of both of those facts. Daily, if not more often.

  
But Miko was absolutely certain that it was on purpose. It wasn't that her monster smiled at her, but the Devil Dragon did radiate a certain smugness when she caught Miko's eyes lingering.

  
What Miko wasn't sure of was _why_. The Devil Dragon had to be able to sense Miko's struggles with purity. She didn't **need** to try to seduce Miko. At this point, all she would have to do is snap her fingers and point, and Miko would come-

* * *

  
"Writing today, huh?"

  
Blake snapped her scroll shut and spun around in her chair. "Sun!"

  
"Oh, sorry. Are you not a draft person? I mean, do you not let people read your drafts?"

  
_Just Yang._

  
_Breathe in, hold it, breathe out._

  
"I was surprised. That's it." Blake hesitated, then added, " Sorry. "

  
"I probably should have knocked. What're you working on? More hot knight dudes?"

  
"No, this is-" Blake paused. How did _Sun_ know about that? "...You read my other stuff?"

  
"Uhhh, you put it on the net? Lots of people read it?"

  
_'Lots' was an overstatement._

  
"But I got it from Scarlet, or, uh, 'DarlinghooK'."

  
Blake nearly buried her face in the back of the chair. 'DarlinghooK' had left comments that just glowed. Hadn't one of them been something like 'I adore this and will share it my room-mates'? He had, apparently.

  
"I looked at all your other stuff, and I thought I remembered you mentioning the guys' names to Yang, and well, 'BlackCat13'? You do wear a lot of black. And-" Sun waggled his hands on top of his own head, in approximation of Blake's ears.

  
...At least it wasn't her parents.

  
Managing to raise her head, Blake met Sun's eyes. He didn't seem to be trying to embarrass her. She took a deep breath, and completed the sentence she'd started earlier, "No, this is something else."

  
"Oh, okay. So what is it?"

  
Blake sighed, and before she could explain that she was four chapters in, with room for chapters between those chapters, and she didn't really have an overarching plan, more of an overarching intention-

  
"Uh, before I forget. Your mom sent me to ask if you wanted to go out with us. Something about a 'bazaar of the bizarre?'"

  
_I shouldn't hide from my mother. I can work more on my story tonight._

  
She stood up, and tucked her scroll away. "I guess. We do have to show you around Kuo Kuana."

  
"There's just so much to see! "

* * *

  
Peryt interrupted the careening path of Miko's thoughts. "Is that a inn ahead? Can we stay there tonight? It _is_ getting very dark, and your footsteps are dragging." She pointed off into the distance ahead.

  
Miko looked, but her seeking green eyes couldn't cut through the gathering gloom. She turned to the Devil Dragon. "Do you see it?"

  
Her monster nodded, and the last light of the sun colored her shining steel hair crimson orange. "It is either a inn or a temple. And regardless, Peri is correct. You can't travel farther tonight."

  
That statement made Miko want to draw herself up in defiance, to proclaim that she **certainly** could go on, and invoke the mantra to make the Devil Dragon suffer for her _presumption_ , writhe on the ground in helpless agony-

  
But Miko, unfortunately, concluded that both of her traveling companions were correct. She hadn't noticed, due to the discussion with Peryt, but now that the topic had been broached, her fatigue was swelling over her, and she didn't seek sleep soon, sleep would come upon her like an assassin.

  
She incanted a mantra to ward off fatigue, and, her feet enormously heavy, turned to Peryt. "There will be no hunting inside. We are _guests_."

  
"I do not know that word."

  
Miko waved a hand helplessly at the Devil Dragon, appealing to her. And, incredibly, the Devil Dragon tried to answer. "A guest is a temporary member of the family."

  
From the noises Peryt was making, Miko judged this to be a difficult concept for her. After she finished sounding like a teakettle, Peryt managed to ask, "Why?!"

  
"For currency, typically." The Devil Dragon paused. "You recall our discussion of currency?"

  
Miko certainly hoped so. It had taken three days.

  
"So they just let anyone into their family for shiny pebbles?" Peryt shook her head, sighing over the stupidity.

  
Her eyes peevishly orange, Miko said, "It isn't always for currency. Sometimes, it's a religious obligation, or a reciprocal relationship-"

  
The Devil Dragon cut in, "Yes, the gods are very insistent on the importance of hospitality. Because they're just parasitic guests."

  
Miko's eyes blazed red, matching her monster's. Her fatigue burned away as she incanted the mantra, "Gone, gone, beast of imperishable steel-"

  
The golden braclets about the Devil Dragon's wrist began to tighten. Miko watched her face carefully, wanting to see the realization, the regret for her blasphemy.

  
"Forge a beast and soft and yielding gold-"

  
Her monster faced her, expression level, though twinges of pain were beginning to make themself evident.

Peryt looked between the two of them. "What is going on?"

  
"Shrink, shrink her shackles, make her kneel-"

  
The Devil Dragon's determined expression shattered and fell away. But she was still silent. Even as burning tears gathering in her eyes, as her knees collapsed under her.

  
Peryt caught the Devil Dragon as she fell, and looked wide-eyed at Miko. "What are you doing?"

  
"If she does not do as she is told!" Miko drew in a great shuddering breath, exhausted again. She hadn't seen regret, or even anger in her monster's face. Just... sadness.

  
"Stop it! Why are you hurting her?" Peryt had a protective arm wrapped around the Devil Dragon's chest. Her skin was blistering where tears had landed. But she didn't let go. She was willing to endure pain for the Devil Dragon.

  
Miko was only willing to inflict pain.

* * *

  
Blake was grateful when Sun rapped on her window. She'd been staring at what she'd written for ten minutes, trying to figure out where to go, and-

  
She opened the window.

  
Sun started to swing inside, but she held out her hand to stop him. Blake just needed a place that was _hers_ , and she _also_ didn't want to have a conversation with her parents about Sun being in her room late at night. Especially not when her mother had already been making sly comments.

  
She wasn't sure his face showed that he'd come to similar conclusions, but that might have been embarrassment. Briefly.

  
But she did want to talk, and get away from her story for a minute, so she climbed out of the window to sit on the ledge with him.

  
He spoke first. Which Blake was expecting, because it _was_ Sun. "It was a nice night out, so I thought you might want to see it."

  
Perversely, Blake stared at the ground, the shielding trees around the Belladonna house. "Yeah."

  
"It's, uh, up, in case you forgot." Sun motioned vaguely up.

  
"I know." _I just don't deserve it right now._ "I..." _Breathe in, hold it, breathe out._ "My writing isn't cooperating." _And my character's a monster. **My** character._

  
"Oh. Well, that sucks."

  
Blake nodded.

  
"Did you want to talk about it? I know I'm not Y-" Sun snapped his mouth shut. After a moment, he began again, "I mean, not really a reader. But, uh, I've heard about a thing where just explaining something can help you, I dunno, make sense of it? You could replace me with a stuffed monkey, or a jar of yogurt."

  
"I think my mom would get concerned if I started talking into the open refrigerator."

  
"Nah, she'd be cool with it once you explained." Sun paused for effect, with a broad grin. "Because the refrigerator's-"

  
"Still open. Yes, got it."

  
"Oh man, speaking of food, your parents don't mess around with their curry! How did you stand all the bland Vale stuff?"

  
Trying to fight down memories of how long it had been since she'd actually had a home-cooked meal - or a home - Blake tried to get back on topic. "Story?"

  
"Oh, right, sorry." Sun stuck all his limbs out stiffly, probably trying to look like a stuffed animal. He gave a slight nod to Blake.

  
She sighed. "My main character is doing stupid things, and hurting her allies."

  
Sun had his lips pressed together, but gave her another tiny nod.

  
"And I'm trying to decide if this chapter is worth saving, or whether I should just junk it. Or this whole project. It's... I had plans for it, but then the final matches, and Beacon, and-" Blake broke off, clutching her legs to her chest. "I don't know."

  
Opening his mouth, Sun was about to say something-

  
\- but he closed his mouth and pointed up at the night sky.

  
Blake looked.

  
It was beautiful. A different set of stars than the ones that hung over Beacon, and seemingly brighter, without the massed lights of Vale to interfere.

  
But still beautiful, shining all the brighter in the blackness in which they were set.

  
_Breathe in, hold it, breathe out. I can make this better._

  
Blake reached out and mussed Sun's hair. "I had an idea. Thanks. Go to bed already."

  
Sun broke out of his stuffed state. "Yeah, there's still a lot of Menagerie I haven't seen. See you in the morning!"

  
He swung away to his own room, and Blake returned to her bed and picked her scroll up again. With a last look at the stars, she started writing again.

* * *

  
Her tongue stumbling, Miko had to try four times before she could repeat the mantra again and make the golden bracelets stop their torment. Her torment.

  
She sank to the dust and mud of the road, staring at the crisp folds of her clothing. The ones that had been cleansed, purified, perfected by Lady Yue's touch. Unstainable.

  
But Miko wanted to tear them off, like they were still drenched in her own gore. As opposed to unsullied white and blue.

  
She could hear Peryt whispering to the Devil Dragon, but she couldn't make out any words.

  
It didn't matter. Miko could compel the Devil Dragon to do whatever she wanted. Lady Yue had told her that the beast would be difficult to manage.

  
Miko was just obeying the dictates of her Goddess. And more than that, punishing blasphemy against not just Lady Yue, but all the Gods.

  
It just made her want to vomit.

  
With a whisper of steel, Miko slid her killing knife free from its sheath. She stared at its wicked tip for a moment - wondering at the feel of it - but set it against her vestments instead. She would rend them, disgrace herself, renounce her priesthood -

  
Peryt tackled her, seizing her knife hand, and keeping it well away from Miko. "What are you doing?!" She wound up on top of Miko, pinning her hands above her head. 

  
Words left Miko. The magnitude of her failures, her blasphemies and the pain she gave out - it was too much.

  
Examining her sobbing face carefully, Peryt tried to pry Miko's fingers loose from her knife's hilt. She was still talking, but none of the words made any sense to Miko.

  
All she could do was keep a hold on her knife. Not the ceremonial dagger of a priestess, but the killing knife of a fully-initiated daughter of the Chameleon Clan. Her knife.

  
Peryt gave up, and released her hands. Miko wasn't sure why she had her knife out, at this time. It was to be drawn for maintenance, for training, and for killing. None of those needed to be done now.

  
After giving her a long look, Peryt stood up, and went over to tend to their other companion.

  
Miko told herself to breath evenly, and after a few slow exhalations, managed to sheathe her knife, and rearrange her robes to hide it. Concealed, but still accessible. It was an important lesson, one that everyone was required to master. Even her indifferent skill among her people would be accounted masterful by others.

  
Her people.

  
Rolling to her feet, Miko was struck with a sudden fit of laughter. She was the greatest assassin in the Chameleon Clan, now. The wisest elder. The most cunning strategist.

  
Peryt took her elbow, and urged her into motion. Miko obeyed, glancing over to see their companion slung over Peryt's shoulder, like a bag of rice. In a silk robe. Mostly in a silk robe.

  
Miko turned her gaze to the road, putting one foot in front of the other.

  
Foot.

  
Foot.

  
Foot foot.

  
Foot foot foot foot.

  
What a great feat for the Chameleon Clan!

  
Smirking at her own joke - The Greatest Wit of the Chameleon Clan! - Miko turned to look at her companions. Peryt had stopped, looking at something before them.

  
Obligingly, Miko also turned to look. Surely the keenest mind of the Chameleon Clan would be able to assist!

  
They were at the inn, warm light spilling out around the edges of the door. A sign hung outside the door, a thick block of wood. In the shade of the gathering twilight - or was it already dusk? Had night fallen? - it just looked pitch black to Miko.

  
Peryt said something. Miko blinked, and cocked her head, trying to understand. It was probably another question. Peryt had so many questions.

  
The Devil Dragon in Iron - it was such a long and ponderous name, Miko needed to think of a shorter version, even if it was only for her own use in her own head - growled a response.

  
Miko really wish she could understand. She was trying, but there was so much that had gotten in the way. Her head felt like it had been stuffed full of raw silk - or maybe silkworms, with the way her thoughts were crawling around.

  
The door opened, and a tall man with taller horns glared at them. His skin was bright red, and Miko vaguely wondered if that was important. It _seemed_ important, but only to a very distant part of her mind.

  
The man's expression softened as he took in the three of them, and the glare became a friendly smile. He beckoned them in, and Peryt led the way, tugging on Miko's elbow.

  
It seemed cozy inside - a little dark, but it _was_ late, and light was expensive. Five or six tables and accompanying chairs, rough-hewn, but sturdy. Miko sat in the chair that Peryt led her to, and kept looking around as Peryt levered the Devil Dragon off of her back and into a chair.

  
Chopsticks in cups on the tables, a clean floor - a woman, as wide as the man was tall, with blue skin and horns that swept out to the side. She smiled at Miko, showing off a mouthful of sharp teeth, and Miko smiled back.

  
The man thumped a large book down on the table, still all smiles. He gestured at it, speaking, drawing Peryt's attention.

  
Peryt turned to Miko, making a helpless motion.

  
The man had produced a brush and ink, and he proffered them to Peryt. When she waved him off, he turned to Miko, offering them again.

  
A contract for service, of course. The characters were dancing in front of Miko's eyes, swirling together, but what else could it be? There would be payment, of course, but later. Discretely, most likely with this contract nearby, so it could be reviewed. Or the bill? Miko had never really dealt with this manner of transaction before, having never strayed too far from her home, and her clan, and the obligations of the clan to care for all of its members.

  
Holding her sleeve out of the way, she carefully wrote, 'Miko of the Chameleon Clan, Shrine Maiden to Lady Yue, and Companions.'

  
The hosts smiled as she handed the book back to them, and broke into warm laughter when they read what she had written. Probably glad for the custom - they couldn't get many travelers this far out in the wilderness. Beyond the borders of the Empire.

  
It _was_ an unusual place for an inn, but Miko wasn't going to complain.

  
The woman took Miko's hand and tugged her to her feet. She was very strong, but that was hardly surprising for a frontierswoman. And - some of her words trickled through, "Please, come. We will make you very relaxed, priestess."

  
Miko could hardly object to _that_. She followed the woman through a doorway, and was shown behind a privacy screen.

  
"Undress, yes? The water is already on."

  
A bath. Wonderful. Miko needed to relax, to untangle her mind, to... she winced. Taking a deep breath, she left the sore point in her mind alone, and began removing her clothes. Miko neatly folded them, and set them on the small table nearby. Her killing knife, she left in the pile, still concealed. 

  
"The water is prepared, priestess. Come, sit in it, and I will brush your hair with saffron oil."

  
That seemed... very generous. Miko had a brief twinge of fear at the price attached to what must be a very costly oil. Did she have enough coin to -

  
Shaking her head at her own forgetfulness, Miko told herself that she could turn everything in this room to solid gold. Price was meaningless to her.

  
Trying not to be self-conscious of her nudity, Miko left the privacy of the screen, and the hostess ushered her into a large tub. It was of crude design, more like a cauldron than anything.

  
But the water was blissfully warm, and Miko had plenty of room to plunge in up to her neck, stretch out her legs, and let the strains of travel melt away.

  
The hostess was behind her, saying small kindnesses about the luster and volume of Miko's hair. Gently taking it down, and carefully running a comb through it - Miko could smell the saffron now, from the water and behind her.

  
_Very_ generous.

  
Sighing in contentment, Miko let herself drift.

  
It was a very large tub. Large enough for two, or three, even.

  
Peryt, the Devil Dragon, and herself - that might be too many, but only because the other two were much larger than normal folk.

  
Miko would have to squeeze in between them, or on top of them. Barely enough room to wash properly, perhaps a misplaced hand, the slipperiness of wet skin, her monsters, her demons, holding her tightly, covering her lips with theirs, one after another, so she could barely take a breath - and they were so warm, hot, so that Miko couldn't even think, and the rising steam only enticed in its concealment -

  
She sat up in the tub, and felt the comb catch in her hair. The water _was_ getting warmer, putting off even more steam, and-

  
"Please, please, calm yourself, priestess. The comb is tangled. Your journey is ended, please lie back and relax."

  
The hostess' voice was so soothing, Miko found herself obeying, lying back against the wall of the tub, even though it was becoming uncomfortably hot.

  
But her fantasy wasn't returning, and the hostess' strokes through her hair just felt rough, and -

  
The door burst open and Peryt barged in, dragging the host by his horns. "Why are you trying to poison me?!" She looked at Miko, and Miko watched a realization creep over her face. " Are... what... Miko, get out, you are being _cooked_! "

  
Miko had been slowly coming to the same conclusion, but hearing Peryt blurt it out - she tried to rise, even though the edges of the tub - the pot - were searing her hands -

  
The hostess fisted her hand in Miko's hair, effortlessly keeping her in place. "But, but, you brought us a priestess! For dinner!"

  
The host added, from his place by Peryt's feet, "Yes, yes, a delicious priestess, going willingly to her own death, nice and relaxed and tender-"

  
Peryt's face gathered stormclouds, and she hurled the host across the floor, and stomped closer to Miko and the hostess. "I don't care how delicious she might be cooked with saffron and served with a bed of rice!"

  
The hostess squeaked, "With her pretty head watching you eat, hair nicely brushed!" Miko, for one, was not comforted.

  
"We are your _guests_! Doesn't family mean anything to you?" Peryt brought her closed fist down on the hostess' head, and the blue demon yelped and released Miko. "Eating family?! Even _humans_ don't do that!"

  
Miko pulled her hair close to her and stood up in the pot. She wasn't sure if she could climb out without burning her hands - and more - but the water was rapidly becoming too hot to bear. "Peryt!"

  
Reaching out with both hands, Peryt plucked Miko from the the pot, and slung her over a shoulder.

  
Acutely aware that she wasn't wearing any clothes, and also that her dererire was magnificently on display, Miko tried to squirm free.

  
Peryt made a very confused noise, but set Miko on her feet, and planted herself between Miko and the hosts. "And about this poisoning-!"

  
Darting back behind the screen, Miko freed her knife, and clutched her clothes tightly to her front with her other arm.

  
"Poisoning?"

  
"We have not tried to poison you."

  
"You two are demons, like us. We have only shown good hospitality."

  
The host turned to the hostess. "The other one did drink very heavily. It was already affecting her."

  
Miko ducked out from behind the screen and took shelter behind Peryt, who drew herself up for more shouting. "Affecting?! She is **poisoned**! She cannot speak clearly, she cannot think, she is already cozened at the threshold of death! All because of your poisons! Give me the antidote!"

  
The hosts looked at each other, in befuddlement.

  
Miko was almost certain she knew what had occurred, but... she had almost let herself be boiled alive. In this room, which, looking around it, was obviously a kitchen. There was even a pot of rice cooking next to her 'tub.' She touched her monster's arm. "Peryt, I will look at the Devil Dragon. She may not have been poisoned."

  
"She **was**! I can smell it!"

  
"Please, just remain calm. I will return presently." Miko strode through the shattered wreckage of the door, and back into the common room.

  
Still naked, she realized, for all that her bundle of clothes let her maintain a gasp of modesty.

  
But the only one there was the Devil Dragon in Iron, bent over in her chair, resting against the table -

  
\- a wine jar in her hand.

  
Miko reached out and tapped it with the hilt of her knife. An _empty_ wine jar. She took a breath from the neck of the vessel, and, her eyes watering, understood why Peryt had thought it poison.

  
Her eyes a pale and cowardly yellow, Miko brushed her fingertips against the Devil Dragon's cheek, tracing a path that might have been taken by one of her fiery tears.

  
The Devil Dragon's eyes snapped open, and Miko felt herself pinned by that baleful crimson glare. But despite her fear, she managed to stammer out, "I am sorry."

  
Her monster flinched away from Miko's touch, and shoved her arms forward, interposing her wrists between them. Her wrists, and the golden bracelets that encircled them.

  
"I, I won't use the mantra. Ever again. I know you won't believe me if I swear it - an oath to a slave is easily broken, you said. But I **won't**. And I'll keep my other one to you as well. I'll, I'll even rend my vestments for you, right now-" She set her clothes down on the table, knife poised -

  
"Don't."

  
Miko looked up at her monster.

  
"Don't throw away surprise. Or your vengeance." The Devil Dragon wasn't meeting her eyes, just staring at Miko's vestments. "Take what she offers, use it up, and **then** we will deal with her. And the rest of her ilk." The Devil Dragon raked her eyes upwards, over Miko, to meet her golden eyes. "But I do enjoy seeing you out of them."

  
Miko's eyes went pink, and she clutched her clothes to her chest, well aware that she wasn't hiding everything, and wanting her monster to just lean across the table and drag her clothes away, and just keep looking at her with that burning gaze that was making her flush all over, and more than look, touch-

  
"Miko?" Peryt called from the other room. " How fares the Devil Dragon?"

  
"She is well! She has simply drunk too much too quickly!" Miko wanted to turn and run for a corner, or the stairs, but turning would expose her to the Devil Dragon's gaze, and Miko wanted that so much - but at the same time -

  
"She is not poisoned?"

  
"Well, yes, but it an ordinary sort of poison that is imbibed for pleasure, and the Devil Dragon knew what she was drinking."

  
"I confess myself quite confused, but if you say she is well..." Peryt addressed the hosts. "Do you have anything to eat who _wasn't_ a guest?"

* * *

  
"Blake?" Her mother knocked lightly on the doorframe, "Dinner is ready."

  
"Just a moment." Blake saved her work, and crossed to the door, re-reading her last few lines, wondering if that was a good enough ending, or-

  
Her mother was standing there when she opened the door. and Blake saw her gaze was drawn to her scroll, and braced herself for a barrage of questions-

  
But her mother just took a step back, leaving her space.

  
And it would be so easy to just take that, and pretend everything was normal, and that she hadn't been gone for years, and that she didn't know that her parents were terrified of her leaving again-

  
Blake closed her scroll and tucked it away. _Breathe in, hold it, breathe out._ "Just working on something."

  
"Action planning? Or something else?"

  
Taking a step forward, Blake wrapped her arms around her mother. "Something else. Just a story." She held on tightly, and her mother returned her embrace with equal fervor.

  
"We're always here, if you want readers." Her mother bumped her forehead against Blake's. "But if we don't hurry, the men are going to eat all of dinner without us. I don't know how long good manners are going to restrain them."

  
Rolling her eyes, Blake broke the embrace, and started for the dining room.


End file.
